High Oil Prices Help Sentiment in Asia-Pacific Markets

Shares in Asia were mixed Tuesday as oil prices hovered near a high for the year.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.9%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5%, and Korea's Kospi slipped 0.2%.

In China, the Shanghai Composite Index was off 0.6%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was flat.

Energy shares were up across the region after oil prices hit a fresh 2016 peak overnight. Australia's BHP Billiton Ltd. gained 2.4%, and Rio Tinto Ltd. climbed 1.1%. PetroChina Co. Ltd. rose 2.3%, and Cnooc Ltd. rose 2.5%.

"Definitely, higher oil prices are bringing good sentiment to the stock market" in Singapore and across the region, said Margaret Yang, market strategist with CMC Markets. Singapore's stock benchmark, the FTSE Strait Times Index, was up 0.4%, its second positive day in a row.

Hong Kongers were waiting for Zhang Dejiang, the No. 3 official in the Chinese central government, to arrive in the city ahead of a conference Wednesday about Beijing's "One Belt One Road" initiative.

Speculation has been growing that Mr. Zhang could announce the launch of a long-anticipated stock trading link between Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

Shares of brokerage firms, whose trading business could benefit from such a link, surged Monday on market expectations.

Meanwhile, in Japan, shares of Sony Financial Holdings Inc. fell 4.1% after the company said its fiscal-year profit fell, dragged by its life insurance and banking businesses.

In Australia, the local dollar spiked on Tuesday, rising as much as 0.8% against the U.S. dollar, after the Reserve Bank of Australia said it was hesitant about making its recent interest-rate cut.

The Australian dollar started the day on a strong footing, with the overnight rally of crude oil buoying commodity currencies. The minutes of the RBA's last monetary policy meeting, released Tuesday, dampened investor views that more easing could be ahead.

The price of Brent crude oil edged higher to trade recently at $49.22 a barrel, helping drive Australia stocks higher, despite the lower expectations for another rate cut.

Kosaku Narioka and Ewen Chew contributed to this article.

Write to Dominique Fong at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 17, 2016 00:25 ET (04:25 GMT)

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